I am grateful to be working with the STEP team. Every day I have the privilege of applying my lived experience as a service user to assist others in making sense of their own recovery.

As a service, the STEP team offers something quite unique and special, in my view. We provide a space for people struggling with conditions like borderline personality disorder (BPD), bipolar disorder, anxiety, and depression to learn the underlying theory behind their diagnosis and develop their own sense of what a recovery-focused lifestyle could mean for them. 

In this way, we are very light touch, as the advice offered is non-prescriptive. We ask people to come in with an open mind regarding what we have to share, but if they feel that what we say doesn’t resonate, we are happy to be contested and challenged, as long as they abide by the course mutual expectations agreement. In this way we foster an inclusive learning environment where people can engage their critical thinking skills and apply this to their own experiences and to the current conventional wisdom about their mental health diagnosis. What I enjoy about this process is that it empowers people to take responsibility for themselves and to develop a sense of mastery and purpose in their recovery journey.

As a service user myself, it can often feel disenchanting when you feel as though you’ve taken a backwards step in your recovery journey. In my own experience, this is especially true if you’re reliant on a service and feel as if you’re stuck and can’t get better until you access the right support. What we do well, I think, is offer a balanced perspective and solution-focused approach. We encourage service users to attend appointments and seek help if they feel they are struggling and need additional support. On top of that, however, we also encourage participants to realise and harness their own methods and coping skills for managing their situation better. 

I work in a team of 10 and my colleague Catherine and I are two peers with lived experience. This means that for many of the courses, one of us can provide a perspective from someone who has experienced many of the symptoms we’re discussing, first-hand. This means we can have good-faith discussions on what has and hasn’t worked for us personally along our own recovery journeys. We present the material as something to consider and reflect on, which helps validate the experiences and expectations the service users might have themselves. It’s not about completely upending your life and stopping all the behaviours that have been successful coping mechanisms in the past, but about considering what we might do differently and thinking of ways we can begin to positively challenge and change our behaviour for better physical and mental health outcomes.

The wide array of people we support means that it can be challenging to know when it’s appropriate to apply your own experience to someone’s response. In this way, I am incentivised to grow and reflect each time we hold a course for a different cohort. There will be times when my own experiences match very closely with someone else’s, and I won’t have much difficulty connecting with them and being able to offer a word of advice. Other times, people will have their own unique struggles and experiences, which requires more effort to bridge the gap and make a meaningful connection.

From my own experience of working, it has been hugely helpful to work in an environment where I am encouraged and supported to be myself. With a diagnosis of schizophrenia, there are real considerations and implications to wrestle with each day as it relates to my ability to work and feel well.

As well as being supported, I feel as though my lived experience status enables me to genuinely provide value to the team in a way my managers genuinely appreciate, rather than my position being one of tokenism. I am enabled to practice what I preach, which helps me to remain accountable to people. It also helps me to retain a positive balance between focusing on my own recovery and developing an appreciation for other people’s problems and issues, fostering gratitude and appreciation.

The team embodies and practices the virtue of co-production in much of the work we do. For example, the feedback we have received via questionnaires and a focus group regarding the BPD course has been largely positive. Although some people have fedback that they would appreciate a space to discuss some of the skills and course content in more detail. At present we are working alongside fellow peers across the trust, as well as service users, clinicians, and volunteers to co-create a new offering that can consider the views of people and deliver what they need. Being able to address concerns and feedback from service users directly leaves me feeling that we’re making a difference. People appreciate the challenge of what we’re trying to do and are grateful for the support we provide.